A Butler County Common Pleas Court jury will resume their deliberations Thursday in the homicide case against a Butler Township man accused in the June 2024 shooting of another man the defendant said was once his friend and employee.

The jury deliberated about 2 1/2 hours Wednesday afternoon in the case against Nathan D. Micheal, 29, who claims he shot Joseph Derenzo, 38, on June 24 in self-defense.

Judge Joseph Kubit dismissed the jury at 4:30 p.m. and instructed them to return Thursday morning.

In his closing argument Wednesday, defense attorney D. Anthony Deluca told the jury that Derenzo was unstable and acting erratically and Michael feared for his life when he shot Derenzo in self-defense.

Deluca recalled testimony Michael gave Tuesday about a previous incident in which Derenzo pulled a gun on Micheal. In that incident, the gun discharged in the ensuing struggle and the bullet hit Derenzo in the shoulder. Before that, Derenzo fired gunshots into the ceiling of Michael’s auto body and motorcycle repair shop where Derenzo worked, according to Michael’s testimony.

He argued that Derenzo showed up at Michael’s home at on Spooner Drive uninvited and tried to force his way into the home from the attached garage. Michael pushed Derenzo and then shot him while he reached for Michael’s AR15 rifle that was in the garage. After being shot three times, Derenzo reached for Michael’s gun and Michael shot Derenzo two more times, he said.

Michael didn’t plan to kill Derenzo, and called 911 while he was still breathing, Deluca said. He said Michael told police, in recorded prison phone calls and said in his testimony he shot Derenzo in self-defense.

Autopsy results showed Derenzo was shot six times — three times in his front torso, once in his buttocks and twice in the back — from a distance greater than 3 1/2 feet. The frontal shots severed Derenzo’s aorta, lungs and diaphragm.

Assistant district attorney Robert Zanella told the jury that Michael committed first-degree murder by ambushing Derenzo while he was working on a motorcycle in the garage.

Zanella said the autopsy results showed the gunshots were fired in a downward direction.

He said three casings from fired bullets were found inside the house and three were found in the garage, indicating Michael fired three shots and then changed positions to shoot Derenzo in the back. A neighbor who heard the gunshots testified that there was a pause between two series of gunshots.

He claimed Michael planted the rifle in the garage as part of his effort in “reverse engineering his story to fit the evidence.” He said Michael testified that he didn’t normally keep the rifle in the garage.

Zanella replayed recordings of Michael’s interview with township police and phone calls from prison, saying Michael changed his account of the shooting numerous times.

He argued that a phone call between Michael and his girlfriend, who also testified Tuesday, revealed efforts to intimidate Derenzo’s girlfriend out of testifying. Both girlfriends testified they were in an upstairs bedroom when the shooting took place.

Derenzo “no longer has a witness,” Michael’s girlfriend said in one call. She said he talked to the father of Derenzo’s girlfriend’s child and, “If she goes to court, she won’t see her child anymore.”

“I did some stuff today for you,” Michael’s girlfriend said in the call. She said, “I told you this would benefit you.”